The development of the Iron Dome system for the interception of short-range rockets and some mortar rounds is a great technological achievement that was for many years considered to be beyond engineering capability. But it is not a cure-all for an attack of thousands of such rockets against civilian populations.

The Iron Dome system can be saturated by the launching of a number of rockets at the same target, some of which get through. It is not an impenetrable umbrella under which life can proceed as usual.

The tremendous difference in the cost of the simple rocket and the expensive system operated to intercept it also makes it financially unsustainable in the long run.

There is no getting away from it: The only way to stop the launching of rockets against Israel’s civilian population is by physically eliminating that capability. That can be achieved only by troops on the ground – through the entry of the Israel Defense Forces into the launching areas and the destruction of the manufacturing and storage facilities.

The belief that terrorist organizations pledged to destroy the State of Israel can be inveigled to abstain from attacking Israel has proven to be false and is not likely to be borne out in the long run.

The writer served as Israel’s Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs.